Nine Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology (GDCB) graduate students received GDCB travel awards in spring 2022. The awards help to partially offset the student’s cost of attending virtual or in-person conferences.

Recipients of the Sui-Tong Chan Fung Travel Awards are Angela Bunning, Ankur Kumar and Ha Vu. Dale W. Young and W.E. Loomis Award recipients are Zakayo Kazibwe, Ching-Yi Liao and Brian Zebosi. Abesh Bera, Xiaoyi Cheng and Vaishali Todi are recipients of GDCB Travel Awards.

Sui-Tong Chan Fung Travel Awards
Fung Awards recognize excellence in the pursuit of genetics research and study. Hon Pon Fung established an endowment at Iowa State University in memory of his wife, Dr. Sui-Tong Chan Fung.

Bunning received the award to apply toward The Yeast Chromosome Biology and Cell Cycle Conference: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in Southbridge, Mass., from July 17-21. The title of her presentation is “A phosphoproteomic approach to understanding the role of the Bub1 kinase domain in chromosome segregation.” Bunning’s major professor is GDCB Associate Professor Moe Gupta.

Kumar received the award to apply toward the cost of attending the 63^rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference in San Diego from April 6-10. Kumar’s presentation is “Role of peroxisome in mitochondrial dynamics during aging in Drosophila melanogaster.” His major professor is GDCB Associate Professor Hua Bai.

Ha Vu received an award to attend Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology in Madison, Wis., from July 10-14. Vu’s presentation title is “Transcriptomic and network analyses identify novel regulators of placental development.” Her major professor is GDCB Associate Professor Geetu Tuteja.

Dale W. Young and W.E. Loomis Awards

Loomis awards recognize excellence in the pursuit of plant physiology research and study. Funds come from an endowment established by Dale W. and Adele C. Young in memory of Dr. Walter E. Loomis.

Kazibwe’s award helped to partially offset the cost of attending Plant Biology 2022 in Portland, Ore., from July 9-13. The title of his presentation is “Activation of autophagy in Arabidopsis plants defective in vacuolar nucleoside transport.” Kazibwe’s major professor is Distinguished Professor Diane Bassham.

Liao received a Loomis award to help in her attendance at Plant Cell Biology International 2022 in Crete, Greece, from Aug. 1-5. The title of her presentation is “Brassinosteroids modulate autophagy through phosphorylation of RAPTOR1B by the GSK3-like kinase BIN2 in Arabidopsis.”

Liao’s major professor is Professor Bassham.

Zebosi received the Loomis Award to partially offset the cost of attending the 64^th Annual Maize Genetics Meeting in St. Louis from March 31-April 3. The title of his presentation is “bds1 and bds2 function redundantly to regulate inflorescence and shoot architecture in maize via brassinosteroid biosynthesis.” Zebosi’s major professor is GDCB Professor Erik Vollbrecht.

GDCB Travel Awards

The GDCB Department provides funding for the travel awards. These awards recognize excellence in research and study in areas outside the Fung and Loomis award categories.

Bera received a travel award to offset the cost of attending the Gordon Research Conference: Cytoskeleton Motors in West Dover, Vt., from July 10-15. “Differential regulation of astral microtubules in a shared cytoplasm is the title of his presentation. Bera’s major professor is GDCB Associate Professor Gupta.

Cheng received a travel award to help with her attendance at the 2022 Midwest Zebrafish Conference in Columbus, Ohio, from May 20-22. The title of Cheng’s presentation is “A novel inflammatory mechanism triggered by the pattern recognition receptor Nod1 controls hematopoietic stem cell production.” Her major professor is GDCB Assistant Professor Raquel Espin Palazon.

Todi applied her award to attend the EMBL Microtubules: from atoms to complex systems in Heidelberg, Germany, from June 8-11. The title of her presentation is “Understanding chromosome segregation by modulating microtubule-dependent tension.” Her major professor is GDCB Associate Professor Gupta.

Students can apply for the travel awards each spring and fall semester. GDCB Department's Graduate Affairs Committee oversees the process. Applications are currently open for fall 2022 GDCB travel awards.